I posted this in Blast for the past but thought a few people here may enjoy the chance to remember the exploits of active players too:

The New South Wales Championships is among the oldest surviving tournaments on the international circuit – including Grand Slam events - and this year celebrates its 120th birthday. Fittingly, perhaps, those celebrations are likely to be overshadowed by the centenary celebrations being held for the Australian National/Open Championships at Melbourne Park this year. We should take time to reflect on this event, though, as, from the mid 1885 to1922, when the National Championships ceased to be a men-only event, the NSW and Victorian Championships (which began in 1884 but ceased to exist in 1971, since when the titles have been awarded to the winner of the Australian Open) were the leading events for Australian women. In fact, their status remained sufficiently high for Adrian Quist to write in the 1973 Encyclopedia of Tennis (edited by Max Robertson, p. 201) that from “an Australian viewpoint, the Championships of New South Wales (Sydney) and Victoria (Melbourne) carry almost the same prestige as the national titles.”

Traditionally held on the grass courts at White City in Sydney, they have been interrupted just once, from 1941-44 during WWII. In 1989, the surface switched to Rebound Ace, to bring the event in line with the surface used at the Australian Open at Flinders Park and at the turn of the millennium, the tournament left White City for the NSW tennis centre at Homebush Bay, which had been constructed for the 2000 Sydney Olympics. From what I can see, every winner of a grand slam tournament between Wimbledon 1958 and Roland Garros 2004 with the sole exception of Karen Hantze-Susman, the Wimbledon Champion of 1962 who never played in Australia, has graced the tournament, though Tracy Austin only played doubles there once. Neither Maria Sharapova nor Svetlana Kuznetsova are slated to make their début this season but three former champions - Capriati, Davenport and Henin Hardenne - are in the field.

In the years before 1958, the roll of honour of the championships contains few foreigners and it took 49 years (1934) before Britain’s Dorothy Round became the first foreign winner. She remained the only non-Australian champion until Americans Doris Hart (1948) and Maureen Connolly (1952) came along after World War II. Nevertheless, virtually all the leading Australians, Margaret Molesworth (1919, 21), Sylvia Lance-Harper (1924,28), Daphne Akhurst (1929), Esna Boyd (1923, 26, 27), Joan Hartigan (1933), Beryl Penrose-Collier (1954), Thelma Coyne-Long (1935, 38, 40, 51, 53) and Nancye Wynne Bolton (1936, 37, 39, 45, 46, 47), appear on the roll of honour.

In the late 1950s and 1960s, doubtless due to a combination of Australian domination of men’s tennis raising the prestige of the Australian circuit and the rise in popularity of women’s tennis, the number of foreign competitors on the Australian circuit slowly began to increase. The following is a brief journey through the history of the New South Wales Championships from 1955-2004. As the Australian summer spans the turn of the year, I’ve used both years to show the season and then, when known, given the month the event took place. I’ve also noted the year-end ranking of the players (Lance Tingay’s top 10 until 1974 and then those of the WTA computer) to give an idea about the strength of the field.

Many thanks are due to Chris for some of the pre-final results pre 1967 and to AndrewTas for the full roll of honour he has compiled. If anyone can fill in any of the missing SF and QF results, that’d be great.

Margaret Smith wins the first of 5 consecutive NSW titles, a joint record with R. Payten (1900-1904). She recalls the final match in her autobiography “The Margaret Smith Story” p65 as follows: “She attacked the ball with more zest than she had done in either of our earlier matches and I relished the chance to swap shots with her. I broke her first serve of the match to lead 2-0 and when I took the set 6-2 I again felt that I had her measure. In the second set I dropped my serve for the first time in the third game as Darlene unleashed several well-executed ground shots but after that reverse I seemed to play even better than in the first set and took it 6-1.

We shook hands in silence at the net and gathered up our racquets and handbags and walked off the court. As we walked through the familiar exit fromp the centre court and out towards the dressing room Darlene was met by several friends and I was surprised to overhear her say in rather annoyed tones: ‘Wait till I get her on my courts back in the States.’”

Smith and Turner, acknowledged as the world’s top 2 in Lance Tingay’s annual rankings, meet in the semi-finals as Smith concedes a mere 10 games in the last three rounds. The last 8 are all Australians for the last time in history.

Lesley Turner finally wins Sydney! Evonne Goolagong made her début at the NSW championships aged just 15 and beat #4 seed Evelyne Terras 60 60 in round of 16 before losing to Gail Sherriff 26 36 in the quarter final. In her autobiography, “Home” (p 119) Evonne quotes an account by Alan Clarkson, a reporter with the Sydney Morning Herald, of her quarter final match:

“The scores did not give a true indication of the tenseness and closeness of the match. Miss Sherriff, who has a forehand as if she was cracking her worst enemy, unleashed her power-laden shots in an effort to knock her younger opponent off the court. Miss Goolagong relished the pace and put the ball back with equal ferocity… and often out of the older girl’s reach.”

There was a very strong field, containing half of the world’s top 10 plus unranked Margaret Court, playing in her first tournament in 15 months, in an event which had many surprises but no climax. Court claims in her autobiography that rain forced the postponement of the match and that she and Judy played the decider later and that she won but no record has been found of this, to my knowledge, and Tegart is credited with the win by default.

The NSW state titles were awarded jointly with the Australian Open title, played at White City. However, an open tournament with a draw of 16 sponsored by Dunlop was held on the same courts in March: This was Margaret’s first defeat (if a 1967 walkover is discounted) in the NSW in a decade. Mrs King wins the tournament on her fourth attempt.

1971 Champion Margaret Court wins her last Sydney title in the longest (in terms of games) post-war final against 1972 title-holder Evonne Goolagong in what Evonne described in her autobiography “Home” (p235) as an “epic”.

With three US national top tenners in the draw, there is a strong American presence in the quarter finals although Chris Evert, in Australia for the Bonne Bell Cup and Australian Opens, does not enter. Evonne, suffering from severely blistered feet, is unexpectedly downed by former top tenner and New South Wales native Karen Krantzcke..

Evonne, returning from the United States and still coming to terms with the full impact of the sudden death of her father in a motor accident, notches up a fine win over Margaret Court, in the latter’s final appearance at White City, .and joins Mary Carter-Reitano, BJ King and Jan Lehane as the only women to defeat Court in the NSW Championships since 1959. The field contains three members of the top 5 plus Court, who was on the comeback trail after the birth of her second child.

Although Goolagong was the only top tenner in the QF, the semi final line-up contained four women who all made a GS final in their careers. Evonne won her third Sydney title with a win over rising star Barker.

In a “pre-run” for the Australian Open championship match the following week Reid defeats Fromholtz in a scrappy match with 14 breaks of service in 26 games!

************************************************** ******
In 1976, a new Sydney tournament, sponsored by Colgate with prize money of $100,000, was held for the first time. As the event with the biggest prize money in Australia it overshadowed the Marlboro-sponsored NSW Championships and attracted a top class field. Navratilova won the title 75 62 over Stove. The tournament was played again in 1977 ( won by Goolagong over Reid 61 63, in 1978 (sponsored by Toyota and won by Fromholtz over Reid 16 61 64) and in 1979 (sponsored by the NSW Building Society and won by Barker over Fairbank 60 75). In 1980 the second tournament was dropped and the building society became the sponsor of the NSW Open.
************************************************** *******

Evonne Goolagong, unranked on the WTA computer and on the comeback trail after the birth of her daughter in May 1977, won the title in spite of a flu virus in a repeat of the 1975 final as part of a total blitz of the Australian season which included victories in the 4 tournaments she entered.

All top 8 seeds made the QF in a tournament which hit the headlines because of a running dispute between Wendy and Evonne Goolagong, who could not play because of flu, over appearance fees. The final was high on excitement as Wendy saved 7 match points, 4 of which came at 2-6 in the tiebreak. The biggest upset in the event was when Navratilova, top seed, having survived a L16 final set tie break against Mima Jausovec, fell to Pam Shriver in the qf. Wendy is quoted in World of Tennis article on the event by John Thirsk (p156) as saying, “I told myself that if I don’t win this event, I would never play again. Winning this event in Australia means more to me than any success I have had before”

In a very high-quality field, only Austin, who played doubles only, and Hanika, who was injured, were missing from the top 10. Mandlikova (81 YER 5) pulled out with a back injury. Playing the Australian circuit for the first time since 1974 and the NSW Champs for the first time, Evert beat Navratilova at their only Sydney meeting to extend her career h2h lead to 29-15 in her only appearance in this event, “producing all her athletic grace and power in a dazzling display of precision tennis” according to John Thirsk (World of Tennis 1982, p161) Against Bunge in the semi finals, Chrissie saved three game points at 3-5 in the second set.

Evonne struggled past 1978 Aussie Open winner Chris O’Neil 46 75 63 in the L32 before finding the form which enabled her to make her last appearance in a final on the tour thanks to a gritty three-set victory over Andrea Jaeger. The first set of the final, played in front of 6,000 spectators, lasted just 13 minutes but Evonne rallied to win the second set by breaking Martina at 4-3 before crumbling in the 22-minute final set. Evonne remains the last Australian player to make it to the NSW final.

Navratilova, Austin, Evert, Jaeger, Shriver and Turnbull all turned down wildcards and left the tournament with is weakest entry for many years. World #10 Hana Mandlikova was top seed, followed by Zina Garrison but both fell before the quarter finals. Durie and Jordan, seeded 3 and 4, reached the final which Durie closed out 63 75 after Jordan fought back to 5-5 from 1-5 in second set to lift the championship without dropping a set and become the first British winner since Dorothy Round in 1934. Liz Sayers beat Kathy Jordan’s big sister, Barbara, who had won the Australian Open in 1979, in the first round and then lost to the younger sister in the semi finals.

Martina Navratilova, coming back from a six week break caused by an ankle injury, wins the won her 99th pro tournament and notched up her 70th consecutive match victory. Henricksson was the lowest direct entry at #100.

Wendy Turnbull repeats her upset of doubles partner Hana Mandlikova in the previous Autumn’s US Open. Hana is quoted in World of Tennis 1988 as saying, (p181), “[Wendy] mixed up her shots a lot and sometimes served so softly I couldn’t do anything with it” In the end it was 5th seeded Zina who stole the show by dismissing three grand slam finalists in straight sets to win her first major grass court tournament.

Unseeded qualifier Brenda Schultz eliminated #4 seed Sylvia Hanika 64 67 75 in the second round as Pam Shriver wins the last grass court NSW Championships. Sadly, the last grass court NSW Championships is also the first where no Australian reaches the quarter-final stage.

As the surface changes from grass to rebound ace, Martina wins her 4th and last Sydney singles title, extending her unbeaten run in Sydney to 20 matches since her defeat by Evert back in the 1981 final.

The increase in prize money did nothing to attract the top stars as Sukova is the only top 10 player in the draw, making the 1990 edition the weakest since 1983. In an extraordinarily unpredicatable event, all of the top 8 seeds were eliminated before the semi-finals, with only #7 seed Rafaella Reggi making it to the quarter final round. Paulus wins the all-Austrian semi final battle but Zvereva takes the title.

Seles, playing her third event since her comeback, wins the title and extends her unbeaten run on Australia soil. Provis-Bradtke defends the Australian colours with an upset of Sawamatsu (#8 seed) to reach the quarter-final for the second year in succession. No Australian has done as well since. 5 continents are represented in the last 8 for the second successive year.

A resurgent Capriati stuns Davenport in the semis and pushes 16-year-old Hingis to three sets in the title match. Arantxa is floored by Frazier in her first match of the tournament. Naoko Sawamatsu makes it to the quarter-finals 22 years after her aunt, Kazuko, did the same.

Venus and Serena beat Hingis and Davenport, the world’s top two players but together only muster 7 games against Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario. Serena plays three qualifying matches and three main draw matches to reach the semis.

Two great runs to the semi finals as Steffi Graf achieves back-to-back victories over the Williams sisters (aged 17 and 18) and Schett knocks out Mauresmo and the Spanish duo of Sanchez and Martinez but both are beaten in the semi finals by Lindsay Davenport and Martina Hingis respectively. For the second year in succession, the Williams sisters fall to the same opponent.

Hingis reduces her h2h deficit vs Lindsay to 10-12 and beats three top 6 players and three grand slam champions en route to the title. Mauresmo’s recurrent back problems force her to default the semi after her first ever career victory over Monica Seles, who was returning to Sydney for the first time since she won the title in 1996. The Hingis-Davenport encounter marks the fourth time in the tournament’s history when the world’s top 2 have met.

Hingis emerges from a field containing 6 of the world’s top 10 to notch up 501 career match wins and join Nancye Wynne Bolton, Court, Goolagong and Navratilova as the 5th woman to win three titles since 1945. She is also the first woman since Navratilova 84/85 and only the 7th post 1940 to defend the title successfully. Alexandra Stevenson beats a Capriati hampered by a hip injury. Capriati recovered to take the Australian Open but the ankle injury which forced Serena to pull out of her semi final ended her Australian campaign.

Panova’s dismissal of an out-of-sorts Capriati (who served 14 double faults) was the upset of the tournament. Davenport sets a post 1945 record for the most final defeats at Sydney with her 5th second place finish. Clijsters beats Belgian rival Henin at the tournament for the second successive year and backs it up with a win over Davenport to claim the title.

With only Serena Williams and Jennifer Capriati missing from the top 9, the field is again of tip top quality. Clijsters, seeded #2 (03 YER 2) and defending champ, withdraws with an ankle injury sustained during the Hopman Cup and Lindsay Davenport pulls out of her semi-final with a shoulder problem.